By Alex Eliseev
Notorious ex-Elite bouncer Gull Yahav has handed himself over to police over allegations that he strangled a Sandton nightclub patron and bit a bloody chunk out of his chin.
Yahav - now a professional poker player - escaped a murder trial over the vicious stabbing of a bouncer at Kyalami in 2002 and is already on bail over last year's brawl with tow-truck tycoon Craig Lipschitz.
He was due to launch his bail application at the Randburg Magistrate's Court this morning (Tuesday).
The fight broke out at the Sandton FTV cafe on Thursday night. It's not clear what caused Yahav to attack 32-year-old Nelson da Silva, who owns a panel-beating business.
Last night, Yahav was consulting his lawyer, Ian Levitt, at the Sandton police station holding cells.
Da Silva, meanwhile, maintained the attack was random, unprovoked and not linked to the Lipschitz case, although he does know Lipschitz.
"Who would provoke a man like that?" he asked. "He's a psychopath."
Da Silva said he was attending a friend's birthday party and was walking past the back bar with two bouncer friends when Yahav pounced.
"He looked at me and I looked at him. He strangled me for some reason and then took a chunk out of my chin. There was blood everywhere."
Da Silva was taken to hospital for injections and treatment, and said he may require minor plastic surgery. He described the wound as a "deep human bite".
Levitt said police officers arrived at Yahav's home on Saturday planning to arrest him. However, it was agreed he would hand himself over first thing on Monday - which he did at around 9.30am.
Levitt said it was still to be determined whether Yahav was provoked or acted in self-defence.
A case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm has been opened, said police spokesperson Constable Neria Malefetse.
On September 11 last year, Yahav and Lipschitz clashed at the same FTV cafe.
Yahav is on trial for bashing Lipschitz, the owner of First Road Emergency tow truck services, over the head with a gun.
Lipschitz, in turn, is being tried for stabbing Yahav repeatedly and leaving him in a critical condition.
In 2002, a manhunt was launched for Yahav and Jonathan Street over the bloody murder of bouncer Patrick Caetano.
The murder was captured on CCTV video and showed the killers hacking Caetano with a butcher's knife.
Street was eventually acquitted of the crime after the state decided Yahav was the main culprit.
Yahav had been fined R10 000 for assaulting Caetano, and could not be tried for murder because of the double-jeopardy law.
Security specialist Mike Bolhuis said Yahav "should have been locked up the first day he threw a punch".
"He's a menace to society and needs to go to jail."